Well, nothing too surprising here, as it’s simply another North Korean conflict with South Korean naval forces. Reportedly there are no SK casualties while the NK vessel engaged retreated after suffering significant damage.

Here’s a picture of the South Korean corvette Yun Yeong Ha (aka Yoon Youngha class corvette; aka Gumdoksuri class patrol vessel; aka PKX class [Patrol Killer eXperimental]; otherwise, a large FAC) which was engaged in the battle with a North Korean vessel. This ship was named after Lt. Commander Yun who died during a SK-NK naval battle back in 2002.

Somali pirates have seized and now hold a weapons smuggling ship. The ship is reportedly an U.A.E. flagged vessel and was transporting munitions to the Somali government.

Also, another group of Somali pirates attacked a Hong Kong flagged oil tanker 1,000 nautical miles east of Somalia in the Indian Ocean. Although the ship was damaged and suffered from a fire it did escape the pirate attack.

Recall the adventures of the MV Arctic Sea? Today EagleSpeak has a link to a large investigative report by The Sunday Times. Sailors from the Arctic Sea were interviewed. Shots were fired aboard the ship and one crewman had his face smashed by rifle stock.

All in all, it makes for a -still- confusing story. The ship is presently in port at Malta.

Procurement strategies and politics cloud the issue sometimes. Some countries want to sound more formidable so might call a frigate a destroyer or a destroyer a cruiser.

More common is capability creep. It’s usually easier to justify a new ship as a replacement for an old one, but inevitably the replacement is larger and more capable as when we started making Burkes. At the time they sure looked like cruisers, but they were marketed to Congress as destroyers and so they have remained, and they have raised the bar.

Japan has special problems in justifying their new construction. They are sensitive to both their own population and their neighbors concerns about the revival of militarism so they tend to minimize their ship classifications. The Osami class which are really small LPHs are listed as LSTs. The Hyuga class, comparable in size to the British Invincible class “through deck cruisers” are rated as destroyers and they are about to start construction of two over 800 ft long 19,500 tons standard and 27,000 ton full load “destroyers.”

A slight correction regarding the MEKO A-200 frigates – they are larger than either LCS design (not under 2000 tons). The South African Navy (SAN) Valour-class is known as the MEKO A-200SAN design and their displacement is 3700 tons and length is 400 feet (121 meters).

Destroyer escorts! And the British called the same size ship in the World War frigates and sloops (the latter being a large corvette). Reaching for the Tylenol now.

And we see the traditional frigate disappearing in major navies, with such named vessels becoming missile battleships (ha!), like the European Aegis frigates. taking up the mantle the old escort, ASW, general purpose frigates are corvettes like the German MEKO-100 and MEKO 200s, which at around 2000 tons or less are smaller than the LCS.

Apparently the world navies think the low end blue water escort as obsolete, since the above mentioned corvettes are geared for littoral, Green Water operations. I tend to agree with this assumption:

FACs (Fast Attack Craft), Corvettes, Frigates, Destroyers, Cruisers, and battleships are descriptors for the range of surface warships from smallest to largest. There is no firm dividing line between them and over time the perception of what size falls into which category has changed but there are also typically different functions assigned to the different types.

Patrol Boats and OPVs (Offshore Patrol Vessels) are a parallel continuum of vessels intended primarily for Coast Guard type missions like search and rescue, fisheries patrols, counter smuggling, or protection of off shore assets like oil wells, primarily in peacetime, but frequently with corresponding wartime coastal and harbor defense duties as well.

LCS or Littoral Combat Ship is an American Navy concept for a new type of vessel with modular add-ons that prepare it for particular missions. Right now those missions are ASuW (Anti-surface warfare) (specifically against swarms of small boats), ASW (Anti-Submarine warfare) (particularly in this case against small conventionally powered submarines lying in wait close to shore), and mine warfare. Most countries would classify it as a frigate.

Battleships, once the largest class of surface warship, have all disappeared. No navy currently has a “battleship.” Mike has five different types of ships that he sees as having assumed the place of the battleship and refers to them as such, although it drives some of us old timers crazy.

Cruisers were once multipurpose ships smaller than battleships that were capable of “cruising” the oceans independently. They performed all sorts of functions: scouting and anti-scouting; commerce protection and commerce raiding; and blockade. During and since WWII they have tended to concentrate on AAW (Anti-Aircraft Warfare) and to a lesser extent, ASuW (Anti-Surface Warfare). They were generally regarded as too large for ASW (Anti-Submarine Warfare) but all American cruisers have ASW capabilities. In size, cruisers range from 500 ft to over 800 feet and from about 8000 tons full load up to about 27000 tons for the Kirov. Functionally they have become indistinguishable from destroyers.

Destroyers are general purpose ships. Typically they do it all, AAW, ASW, and ASuW. In size they range from about 400 ft up to 600 feet and from 4000 tons to 10000 tons full load.

Frigates nominally smaller than destroyers but some are growing large enough to overlap destroyers in size. Because they are smaller than destroyers they are frequently specialized in function. While they usually will be able to do all three functions (AAW, ASW, ASuW) to a degree, they typically specialize in ASW. They are typically 300 to 500 feet in length and displace 2,000 to 6,500 tons full load.

Corvettes are nominally smaller than frigates. In most case their strength is in ASuW, but some are ASW specialists. They range from about 200 to 350 feet and 500 to 3,000 tons full load.

FACs-motor torpedo boats, motor gun boats, and missile boats are typically less than 200 feet long and less than 500 tons full load. Most are used exclusively for ASuW. In some cases they can do some ASW, but AAW is usually weak.

Patrol boats differ from the FACs which may be about the same size in that they are more lightly armed, usually only one 20 to 76 mm gun and some machine guns. They sacrifice speed for sea keeping and endurance. They are typically less than 150 feet in length and less than 400 tons full load.

An OPV is larger than a patrol boat, it does much of its work by small boat sending an boarding party to inspect vessels it finds interesting to determine what they are doing, so boat handling capability is important. All but the smallest generally have some facility for helicopters. Comparable in size to a corvette or frigate, speed is generally lower and endurance greater. Economy of operation is important so crews may be relatively small and generally they cruise on diesels although some have gas turbines for dash speed. Some are built to merchant rather than warship standards. Hull forms are also optimized for sea keeping rather than speed. They range in size from about 500 tons to 4,500 tons in the case of the new National Security Cutter.

Solomon, here’s a 2-cent explanation. Inshore patrol (see link to French boats above) and patrol boat seem pretty much the same, basically harbor parol boats. Off Shore Patrol Vessel (OPV)is larger, better armed, with much greater range. See River class or Armindale class for that. Corvettes run from 1000 to 3000 tons, near frigate size and capability, similar to 3,000t LCS. Some corvettes might be better armed than LCS.

Solomon, don’t forget the new missile cruisers, destroyers, and frigates, most with Aegis or Aegis like weaponry, all performing basically the same function. Or when does an LHA/LHD become a light carrier, or is it an amphibious ship?

I wish someone would give me a 5 cent explanation for the difference between an LCS, an OPV, a Corvette, an Inshore Patrol Ship and a Patrol Boat.

All are suppose to operate close to shore…all are suppose to carry a nominal boarding party…all are suppose fight pirates…all are fast…all have light armaments …what the heck is the difference??? Size???? We’ve had tanks range from (in the past) 20tons all the way up to 100 tons…I don’t get the classification system.

Having read this I believed it was really informative. I appreciate you spending some time and effort to put this short article together. I once again find myself spending a significant amount of time both reading and leaving comments. But so what, it was still worthwhile!